Homes don't mix well with landfills

Commission rejects ordinance proposals that would have allowed subdivisions to be built on old dump sites.

Posted: Friday, December 02, 2005

There won't be another Weatherwood - at least not while current Chatham County commissioners are in control.

The board on Friday unanimously rejected three proposals that would have allowed subdivisions to be constructed on retired landfills throughout the county.

Their decision was unsettling to local attorney Benjamin Eichholz, who nine months ago was told by the board that he could build homes on a landfill after the county drafted regulations to govern such a project.

"I am obviously disappointed in the county commission's refusal to adopt a countywide ordinance governing the building of homes on a landfill," Eichholz said after the meeting.

Commissioners didn't dawdle with their decision and spent little time discussing the ordinances. A few hesitated to give Eichholz's attorney, Harold Yellin, five minutes to speak about the development.

"A matter of this magnitude should have been treated as a public hearing," Yellin said afterward.

A good portion of Eichholz's seven-acre slab of real estate is atop a landfill. In 1991 it captured national attention when dangerous amounts of methane gas seeped into homes in the former Weatherwood subdivision.

Dozens of families were forced to abandon their homes. They begged county leaders for help.

The commission bought 32 of the properties for $7.5 million. Most of the homes were demolished, while some were salvaged and relocated just beyond the landfill off Ferguson Avenue.

In an attempt to recoup taxpayer dollars, the county sold the land in 1992 to a private construction company for $275,000, contingent that lots over the landfill not be redeveloped.

The company immediately resold to Eichholz for $370,000. But the clause denying redevelopment wasn't included in the sale.

Eichholz renamed the area Sheftall Bluff and in 2000 asked commissioners for permission to rebuild. He was turned down.

In March 2005 he asked again. That time commissioners voted 6-2 to allow construction but only after an ordinance was drafted that laid out rules for subdivisions atop landfills.

Three policies were presented on Friday. After rehashing "the horrors" of the Weatherwood days, County Manager Russ Abolt advised the board to reject all three. He asked them to keep the existing policy that prohibits home construction over landfills, noting "we can't guarantee it won't happen again."

The landfill is in Commissioner Helen Stone's district. She said the policies to govern development on landfills did not "address all the issues."

Charles Satchwill, project engineer for Sheftall Bluff, said there wouldn't have been issues if Weatherwood's homes were built to current code.

"Everything can be designed in accordance," he said. "We do it all the time."

Dozens of families were forced to abandon their homes. They begged county leaders for help.

The commission bought 32 of the properties for $7.5 million. Most of the homes were demolished, while some were salvaged and relocated just beyond the landfill off Ferguson Avenue.

In an attempt to recoup taxpayer dollars, the county sold the land in 1992 to a private construction company for $275,000, contingent that lots over the landfill not be redeveloped.

The company immediately resold to Eichholz for $370,000. But the clause denying redevelopment wasn't included in the sale.

Eichholz renamed the area Sheftall Bluff and in 2000 asked commissioners for permission to rebuild. He was turned down.

In March 2005 he asked again. That time commissioners voted 6-2 to allow construction but only after an ordinance was drafted that laid out rules for subdivisions atop landfills.

Three policies were presented on Friday. After rehashing "the horrors" of the Weatherwood days, County Manager Russ Abolt advised the board to reject all three. He asked them to keep the existing policy that prohibits home construction over landfills, noting "we can't guarantee it won't happen again."

The landfill is in Commissioner Helen Stone's district. She said the policies to govern development on landfills did not "address all the issues."

Charles Satchwill, project engineer for Sheftall Bluff, said there wouldn't have been issues if Weatherwood's homes were built to current code.

"Everything can be designed in accordance," he said. "We do it all the time."